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Jurors deliberate in electricity theft murder trial
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
The normally staid courtroom of Judge Maureen Sweeney was jarred by nine loud raps on a podium Friday — one for each time 31-year-old Munir Blake was shot two years ago today.
Assistant Prosecutor Rob Andrews told jurors in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court during closing arguments in the trial of the man accused of killing Blake, 22-year-old Michael Paige, that there is no doubt Paige is guilty of aggravated murder for Blake’s death.
Jurors deliberated more than five hours before heading home Friday without reaching a verdict.
They are expected to continue deliberations Monday.
Defense attorney Tim Cunning told jurors that Paige is innocent, and a woman who both sides admit set in motion the chain of events that led to Blake’s murder, 23-year-old Jasmine Fletcher, was the person who killed Blake.
“Jasmine Fletcher is reasonable doubt,” so jurors need to find his client not guilty, Cunning said.
Blake was killed in an apartment in the 200 block of Lora Avenue on March 1, 2012.
Police said he confronted Fletcher, who lived upstairs from him and who was stealing electricity from him because her power was shut off, and she was being evicted. Police say that during the argument, Paige shot Fletcher.
Fletcher was charged in the hours after Blake’s death with murder, but Paige confessed about a day later.
Paige was indicted on a charge of aggravated murder.
Fletcher was indicted on charges of obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence, charges to which she entered guilty pleas Monday.
Prosecutors are recommending a three-year sentence. She did not testify at the trial.
Andrews said there is no doubt Paige killed Blake. He said Paige confessed and his story is backed up by Fletcher and the evidence.
“What else can you conclude? That’s murder,” Andrews said.
Andrews said that what Fletcher did was wrong, and her actions led to Blake’s killing.
But she did not kill him, he said.
Cunning told jurors that it was Fletcher who killed Blake. He said his two children who heard but did not see the shooting told a man visiting a neighbor: “She shot him,” meaning Fletcher shot Blake.
Fletcher lied to detectives 60 times when she was interviewed, and she has a past criminal record, Cunning said.
“And you’re being asked to believe her when she points the finger at Michael?” Cunning said.
He said Fletcher had the motive to kill Blake because they had clashed the night before he was killed about his power being stolen.
Cunning said Paige did not know Blake and had no ax to grind with him. He said he could not explain why Paige confessed but that none of the evidence backs up that confession.
Andrews, in a rebuttal, said that Paige’s confession is a powerful piece of evidence. Andrews said people lie to get out of a murder; they never lie to say that they committed murder.
Paige also confessed to his girlfriend as well after he was interviewed by detectives, Andrews said.